Programs
Playwriting Residency
(Formerly “WRITE ON!”)
GRADE LEVELS
4-12
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
8-14 classroom sessions
OPTIONS
- Introductory performance with Guest Actors to model live theatre and improvise from students ideas
- Actors visit mid-session to motivate writing and revision
- Actors perform student work during the school day, to reward writers and entertain other classes
- Actors perform student work in an evening performance for families and the community
EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC PROGRAMS:
- Write On! Playwriting for all students, grades 4-12
- Defining Moments Playwriting with System Impacted Youth, all ages
- Beyond Sentences Playwriting centered on the Justice System, grades 9-12
About PLAYWRITING Residencies
Through a structured and dynamic process developed by Playwrights Project, our playwriting residencies enable students to experience success as writers. Inventive theatre games, check-ins, restorative circles, improvisations, readings, and writing exercises lead to the development of scripted scenes. Assignments may be linked thematically to curriculum and adapted for varying levels of English proficiency.
Students draw from experience, observation and imagination to create characters and situations of importance to them.
Playwrights Project’s approach builds a safe environment in which candor and risk-taking are encouraged in students’ writing. Peer evaluation and revision are emphasized.
The residency begins with a planning session between the teaching artist and the classroom teacher. The teaching artist conducts 8-14 classroom sessions (45-60 minutes), either once or twice per week. Block schedules can be accommodated. Our most popular residency finale is a performance at which professional actors present students’ work. Performances are scheduled during the school day and/or in the evening. Writers, peers and teachers are amazed by the quality of the theatre that unfolds.